Water shortages frequently occur in many parts of the United States and the rest of the world. As a consequence, considerable effort has been expended to develop low water utilization devices such as low flow shower heads, toilets, etc. Many municipalities in California, for example encourage or mandate the use of toilets which use less than 2.0 gallons per flush and shower heads which discharge less than 3.0 gallons per minute. Various such devices are widely commercially available and are described in the literature. In general, although such devices perform adequately, they usually do not function as well as conventional full flow devices. For example, whereas conventional full flow shower heads typically discharge 3.0 to 8.0 gallons per minute, low flow shower heads which discharge less than 3.0 gallons per minute, are often perceived as being weak and only marginally satisfactory.
The present invention is directed to plumbing systems utilizing a pressurized tap water supply for enhancing water delivery, without consuming additional supply water, by recirculating a portion of the previously discharged water.
The concept of recirculating discharged shower water has been known for many years primarily for use, for example, in boats, trailers, motor homes, and the like; e.g.,
______________________________________ U.S. Pat. No. Inventor ______________________________________ 1,065,265 Nordmark 2,308,452 Ortyl 3,606,618 Veech 3,646,618 Johnson 4,224,700 Bloys 4,413,363 Troviano 4,828,709 Houser 4,893,364 Keeler ______________________________________
These systems typically use electric motor driven pumps for recirculating discharged shower water to a shower head. A portable shower stall system utilizing a water driven pump to transport water from a base to a sink/drain is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,975,992.